Enquiring Into Divine Things

Nam interim deos credere, interim se deliberare variavit, ut, propositionis incerto, incertior responsionis nostrae intentio fundaretur. Sed in Natale meo verutiam nolo, non credo: procul est ab eius simplicitate subtilis urbanitas. Quid igitiur? Ut qui rectam viam nescit, ubi, ut fit, in plures una diffunditur, quia viam nescit, haeret anxius, nec singulas audet eligere, nec universas probare; sic cui non est veri stabile iudicium prout infida suspicio spargitur, ita eius dubio opinio dissipatur. Nullum itaque miraculum est, si Caecilius identidem incontrariis ac repugnantibus iactetur aestu et fluctuentur: quod ne fiat ulterius, convincam, et regarduam, quamvis diversa sint, quae dicta sunt; una veritate confirmata probataque, nec dubitandum ei de caetero est, nec vagandam. Et quoniam meus frater erupit aegre se fere, stomachari, indignari, dolere, illiteratos, pauperes, imperitos, de rebus caelestibus disputare; sciat omnes homines sine delectu aetatis, sexus, dignitatis, rationis et sensus capaces et habiles procreatos: nec fortuna nactos, sed natura insitos esse sapientiam: quin ipsos etiam philosophus, vel si qui alii artium repertores in memorias exierunt, prius quam solertia mentis parerent nominis claritatem, habitos esse plebeios, indoctos, seminudos; adeo divites facultatibus suis illigatos, magis aurum suspicere consuesse, quam caelum: nostrates pauperes, et commentos esse prudentiam, et tradidisse caeteris disciplinam. Unde apparet ingenium non dari facultatibus, nec studio parari, sed cum ipsa mentis formatione generari. Nihil itaque indignandum, vel dolendum, si quicumque de divinis quaerat, sentiat, proferat; quum non disputantis auctoritas, sed disputationis ipsius veritas requiatur: atque etiam quo imperitior sermo, hoc illustrior ratio est, quoniam non fucatur pompa facundiae et gratiae, sed, ut est, recti regula sustinetur. Minucius Felix, Octavius, Caput XVI Source: Migne PL 3.280a-283b

For he shifted between believing the gods and deliberating about them, so that the direct purpose of my reply was established with greater uncertainty by the uncertainty of his proposition. But in my friend Natalis I will not allow, nor do I believe in, any chicanery: his honesty is far from cunning trickery. What then? Like a man who is ignorant of the right way, when, as it happens, the one road divides into many, because he knows not the way, he becomes anxious and neither dares choose one nor tries all; so, if a man has no steadfast judgment of truth, even as his untrusting suspicion is scattered, so his doubting opinion is destroyed. Thus it is no wonder if Caecilius is in the same way unsettled, and tossed toward things repugnant and swept away by the swell; but that this may no longer continue, I will convict and refute all said, however diverse, confirming and approving the truth alone; and for the future he must neither doubt nor waver. And since my brother broke out in such difficulty, that he was grieved, vexed, and indignant, that illiterate, poor and unskilled people should dispute about heavenly things; let it be known that all men without preference of age, sex, or dignity are created with a capacity and ability of reasoning and feeling. Nor do they gain wisdom by fortune, but have it implanted by nature; moreover, even the philosopher, or others who have gone forth unto celebrity as discoverers of arts, before they attained an illustrious name by their mental skill, were thought plebeian, untaught, half-naked. Thus it is, that rich men, bound to their means, have been more inclined to gaze upon gold than upon heaven, while our poor folk have pondered wisdom and have handed over the teaching to others; whence it appears that intelligence is not given to wealth, nor is prepared by study, but is generated with the very formation of the mind. Therefore one must not be indignant nor aggrieved if any one should inquire, should think or should utter his thoughts about Divine things; since what is required is not arguments about authority but the truth of the argument itself: and even the more unskilled the speech, the more clear the reasoning, since it is not obscured by the pomp of eloquence and grace; but, as it is, it is sustained by the rule of right. Minucius Felix, Octavius, Chapter 16